Chapter 270 - Spirit Sight

I almost held off posting this one until tomorrow as my alpha reader hasn't had a chance to look it over yet, but didn't want to release another delayed chapter. With this, I'm back on schedule!

Celaine needed a bath. She’d always made fun of Hump for his obsession, but the truth was, he was right. After weeks wandering the road, braving the forests, and cresting the hills, there was nothing she craved more than a nice hot bath.

It had been a hard day. A hard month! The war was going poorly. They could not stem the flood of undead, and day by day, more made it out of the Charred Heights and to Drakalyn’s borders. At least this time, they’d stopped some of them.

She slumped against a nearby tree and caught her breath. The remains of an undead army lay all around her. What had once been a force five-thousand strong was now reduced to mounds of flesh and piles of bones. This was her third battle that week, but the first of such a scale. Six hours of constant chase and fighting, and now they stood upon the road they’d fought for. Not that it was much use with so many bones in the way.

Ana came to her side. Her face was slick with the dried blood of some beast, plastering her hair on one of her temples to her head.

“How’s Yorin?” Celaine asked.

“Took a nasty wound to the gut but he’s taken well to the potion,” Ana said. “The healers are seeing to him now.”

“Good,” Celaine said. She wouldn’t be much of a leader if she lost one of her squad within the first month.

“Leif’s looking for you,” Ana said. “Message came through to meet him by the shrine.”

Celaine let out a sigh. “Got it. It was a long fight. Keep everyone here—make sure they get a bite to eat and some water. You too, Ana.”

“You got it, boss.” The woman smiled.

Celaine smiled. “See you in a bit.”

She’d come to like Ana. The woman was ten years her senior but made no issue of her command. In their time together, her advice was always on point, and she always knew just what to say to keep moral up. If she’d been able to make it past the second circle, she would have made it far amongst Drakalyn’s hunters, that much Celaine was sure of. As it was, she understood why Leif had assigned Ana as her second. What Celaine lacked in in leadership skills, management, and strategy, Ana filled in the gaps.

It didn’t take long for Celaine to find Leif, she only had to follow the trail of bones. Their goal that day was the Soulstone Shrine of the lich. From late morning to late afternoon, they whittled away at the most powerful members of the army, constantly moving around the flanks of the relatively immobile skeletal force. While the undead required no rest, they did need a power source to sustain them. For the smaller forces, that was often an Overlord. This was different. The keepers had been drawn to it because of the Soulstone Shrine that travelled with it.

Leif stood beside it, the giant man inspecting the magical artifact. His usual squad stood nearby, along with many other hunters. The shrine was made of bones and stone, curving up like a bowl to hold an ethereal green stone that still glowered with whisps of spiralling essence within. Four fleshy horrors had carried it upon their shoulders as it fed their army power. Even captured, Celaine sensed a wrongness to it, pervading her being just by its presence. There was an evil in its power that send shivers down her spine.

“Ah, Celaine, thanks for coming,” Leif said. “You holding up alright?”

“I’m fine,” Celaine said. “Uninjured, which is luckier than many.”

“Good.” He nodded toward the find. “It’s a good find—undamaged. Higir’s studied one of the recovered shrines already and suspects that even for Irila they are not easy to make. He’ll be pleased to finally have one that’s still in working order.”

“Keeper Yunillia will be pleased.”

At the mention of her name Leif frowned. They received regular news. It had been almost a month since Yunillia had last been seen. People were starting to worry.

“Yes, well, it’s a good find. How soon can your hunters be ready to move?”

Celaine raised an eyebrow. “I hoped we were done with fighting today.”

Leif grinned. “The fighting’s over. I’d like your squad to be the ones to return the shrine to Drakalyn. It’s been a month. Time for you all to spend some time at home.”

Celaine couldn’t help but return his smile. Finally. Too many sleepless nights had passed already. The undead did not rest, and while the lesser creatures couldn’t face the sunlight, that hardly mattered beneath the dark clouds of Irila. A month of dim summer days and cold nights was enough to leave them all exhausted.

“Thank you, Leif,” Celaine said. “I’ll gather my squad and be ready to move immediately.”

“We’ll have it mounted on a cart for you. Keeper Finnian will check in on route to make sure you’re without issues.” Something must have shown on Celaine’s face as Leif gave her an inquisitive look. “Is everything alright?”

Celaine quickly forced a smile, trying not to show her annoyance at another encounter with Finn. “Yes, sir. We’ll collect it shortly.”

As she walked back to her squad, she breathed a sigh of relief. There was no denying the affect so much time in battle had on her—she was stronger than ever. Her mastery over Way of the Shadow Archer and Relentless Pursuit was becoming more and more natural with every fight. Being without Hump and the others had forced her to be pushed. Not exactly an enjoyable experience, but one she had made every effort to reap what benefits she could from.

She'd needed to catch up, and now she was doing it. Day by day, she felt the threshold of the fourth circle grow closer.

Still, she was glad for the reprieve. She’d missed Nisha even more than she’d expected and couldn’t wait to see her excitement upon coming back. Her family would no doubt be worried, especially Myra. She’d taken particularly poorly to the news of her going away. As for Hump, it had been… strange to be apart for so long.

***ump

A boom sounded in the distant and Hump opened his eyes. There was more fighting along Drakalyn’s threshold. At least for now, the undead that made it across were quickly slain by the defensive powers of Owalyn, but there was no question, Drakalyn was under siege.

“Focus!” Ado said. “Don’t let a few overenthusiastic skeletons distract you.”

Hump glared at the shaman. “You never know, it might be more than a few.”

“Then we’d be hearing more noise than that boom. Now focus. Prepare yourself. I won’t be going easy on you this time.”

Hump let out a long sigh. He’d been pleased that Ado’s attitude toward him had not changed in the slightest following his final trial with Owalyn. According to the shaman, Hump had reacted exactly as expected.

Hump drew upon his soul, manifesting it around him. A familiar sense of power came over him. Everything felt clearer—his connection to essence, the feel of it on his skin, the touch of it on his soul. The world was his.

“Good,” Ado said.

Essence rose before Hump, building in pressure before striking him like a torrent of water, weighing him down to the ground. Hump pressed back feeling confident. He’d been getting better at his soul control, slowly increasing his resistance to the impact of Ado’s power. Every few days upon the shaman’s return from his mission, they would practice, and each time, Hump felt closer to victory.

This time, he sensed a change a moment too late. Ado stabbed at his soul with a spike of essence. Where the gorger had wormed its way into Hump’s soul, this sudden blow was like a spear. Hump grunted, searing pain lancing through his mind.

“Focus!” Ado shouted.

Easy for him to say, Hump thought.

Instinct took over and Hump grew essence into repairing the damage, forming his soul around him once more and imagining a protective shell. As it took shape, he sensed something off. His left eye burned with essence. He opened it, and a world of colour appeared before him. Ado’s soul rose from the shaman like a green wind of leaves. He could see every part of it like smoke, but it was clearer. Clearer even than his Essence Sight spell. Every part of it was visible down to the singular embers of power, like a storm of a million million sparks drifting in a storm.

He saw his own power, or more importantly, how much of it he was wasting. It drifted away like steam from a pot, dissipating into the world around him. And he saw his spellbook at his hip, bound to him on a ghostly wave of essence, much like his bond with Nishari but even more vibrant. Silver light rose from it, mixing with his own soul and escaping out like a flame.

This is what the old man was afraid of, Hump realised. His master had warned him to learn to disguise his soul in his final letter to Hump. As he was now, he still shone like a beacon.

There was a shift in Ado’s power like froth upon a wave. Another spike was coming, but this time Hump would be ready for it.

Being able to see it was different. It was surreal. He could see the actions and reactions of every thought and shred of intent he let slip. Where he focused on containing one part, another broke free, or a second of his soul became uneven, or perhaps even drifted—caught up by the winds of essence all around him. His power poured from him almost uncontrollably, rising like flames, expanded to the limits of his soul.

This wasn’t right.

This time, he condensed it. It seemed counterintuitive to do such a thing. The point of manifesting his soul was to expand his influence into the world directly, but what good was that if he was overwhelmed by the intent of the world around him? Instead, he decided to control only his immediate vicinity—a bubble just beyond his body. Better to focus small than be stretched too thin.

The attack came just as Hump expected. This time, it washed over him like it was nothing, falling away and leaving him undisturbed. Hump looked up at Ado with a smile, only to see something strange staring back at him. Before him stood a ghostly figure, constantly shifting into various beasts. At the core of it was the green and silver light of Owalyn.

Hump blinked, withdrawing his essence from his eye. Once more Ado was before him, staring at Hump with wide eyes.

“What did you do?” Ado asked.

Frowning, Hump did his best to explain the process, and the sudden clarity he’d gained over his soul.

“Mother’s Mercy,” Ado said, his usually unwavering face broken with surprise.

“You know what happened?” Hump asked.

Ado nodded. “You possess the spirit sight.”

“The what?” Hump asked.

“Your eye,” Ado said. “That’s the power it possesses. A power that allows you to pierce the veil of worlds and see the spirit and winds of essence for what they truly are. I know of only one other dragon blooded to possess it.”

“Who?” Hump asked.

Ado stared at him with stern eyes. “Elder Ashera.”

Hump groaned. “Of course it’s her. She’s going to hate me even more now.”

Ado burst into laughter. “What can I say, lad? You’re cursed with good luck.”

“Just you wait,” Hump said. “The gods cursed wizards with bad luck. Sometimes it just takes a little while to rear its ugly head.”

***

When Nisha sniffed the air and turned toward the path leading to Vamir’s cabin, her tail whipping from side to side, Hump knew who had arrivad. Word had come that Celaine would return today, bringing with her a prize. He had not gone to the gathering, not wanting to risk the crowd. Instead, he’d planned a little surprise.

“Go find her,” Hump whispered to Nisha, sending her running off ahead of him.

He followed, withdrawing his soul as he walked, containing it as he’d practiced. He holed it up within the core of his being, pulling back every bit of essence he could and condensing it into one solid mass.

As he came around to the other side of the cabin he watched, grinning as Nisha leapt up at Celaine, climbing at her clothes and licking at whatever she could get her face to. She was tall enough now to reach Celaine’s chest. Celaine laughed as she knelt and pulled the dragon’s head to her shoulder, though Hump’s eyes were on her. She looked exhausted. Dark bags bruised her eyes, and dirt and grime covered her face. Her armour was stained with old blood and gore. No doubt it had been a tough month. Gods, he could hardly believe it had been a month.

“You’ve gotten so big, Nisha! Wow!”

“She has, hasn’t she?” Hump called.

Celaine all but leapt from her skin, looking up at him as if she’d spotting a ghost. She let out a relieved breath.

“By all the Mother’s Mercy,” Celaine snapped. She gawked at him, walking closer to inspect him. Her eyes shone with green essence. “What did you do?”

Hump grinned. “I’ve been practicing while you were gone.”

“I… it’s like you’re not here,” Celaine said. “I can’t sense you.”

“After so many times of you appearing out of nowhere, it’s finally my turn.”

“Well, you got me.” She glared at him. “Hope you’re happy.”

“Oh, I’m happy alright.” He relaxed his essence, returning to his usual state.

“That’s better,” Celaine said. “I prefer it when you’re a lumbering oaf.”

Hump chuckled and spread his arms for a hug. She narrowed her eyes at him but accepted his awkward hug. “It’s good to see you, Celaine.”

He let out a breath. Worrying about her for a month was one thing, but it was only now that she was back that he realised just how much it had weighed on him.

“And you.”

They stayed like that for a moment, then Hump pulled back. “You do stink though.”

Celaine chuckled self-pityingly. “You always know what a lady wants to hear.”